Moonlit Seduction
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: Elena's relationship with Stefan is dying due to his constant lies. Damon uses this as an excuse to visit her by moonlight in an attempt at seducing her completely away from his brother and into his arms. Much to his surprise, it's actually working. Damon/Elena Elena's view of By the Light of the Moon
1. Just the Beginning

Moonlit Seduction  
DG32173

Sarah: an idea gotten from the song _"Can't Fight the Moonlight"_ by LeAnn Rimes from the _Coyote Ugly_ soundtrack. I do so hope you enjoy.

_**DISCLAIMER**_  
I only own what I write! I don't make any money from my fanfics, nor do I ever want to. That means TVD, the cast, the settings, any musical references, _anything_ you recognize that I hadn't claimed in another story of mine belongs to _someone else._ If it belongs to me, I'll claim it before the chapter it appears in. This is the only disclaimer for the whole fanfic.

_**WARNINGS**_  
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Starts in Season 1 after _Miss Mystic Falls_ but before _Isobel._ Rated M for my sanity, not that I have any. Elena's viewpoint.

_**SUMMARY**_  
Elena's relationship with Stefan is dying due to his constant lies. Damon uses this as an excuse to visit her by moonlight in an attempt at seducing her completely away from his brother and into his arms. Much to his surprise, it's actually working. _**Damon/Elena**_

**_SHOUT-OUT_**  
A great big shout-out goes to my _amazing_ beta-reader, VDfan2107! Thanks so much for helping me out as you have been!

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Chapter 1  
Just the Beginning

I sigh as I stare up at the nearly full moon while I sip at the glass of bourbon I had poured myself from Damon's collection. I had told Jenna that Stefan is 'very sick' and that I am staying at the boarding house to help Damon take care of him. I don't feel that it's the right time to bring Jenna in on the secret about the supernatural. I have my earbuds in my ears and my IPod cranked up while playing _Good Girl_ by Carrie Underwood on repeat. I am finally accepting the fact that I had been playing the role of the good girl in the song, trying to be with the 'good guy' when in reality, Stefan was actually the worst thing for me.

I stare up at the moon and wonder how I could have ever been stupid enough to believe Stefan would stop lying to me, particularly after finding that picture of Katherine and finding out that he lied about her looks. 'Blond hair, blue eyes he said. Yeah right,' I think. 'I should have known if he felt _that_ was okay to lie about, then he would lie about anything when he didn't feel like being honest. From what I can tell, he's even lied about being able to trust Damon.'

My body suddenly relaxes, all the tension and stress lifting from me as it _always_ does every damn time Damon enters the room I'm in. But I ignore his presence as I continue to sort through everything that's happened in the last several months and my feelings in regards to it all.

I had always been the good girl, doing what everyone expected of me. Breaking my promise to attend Family Night so I could go partying had ended up with my parents dead. It also ended up bringing Stefan into my life. Two terrible consequences of being selfish. I am quite certain that Damon and I would have crossed paths eventually. It's a small town, after all. He had come back to open the tomb. Our paths would have crossed, I'm positive of that. Just as I'm positive that day I first came to the boarding house is _not_ the first time I had met him. Something has always told me I knew him from somewhere else, some other time that I had been forced to forget. Knowing what he is and what he can do, I know damn well _why_ I have such a feeling: he had to have compelled me to forget our _true_ first meeting.

I know I should be _pissed_ that he hasn't returned the memory yet. But I know he has to have a good reason to continue to keep it from me. A strangled cry of pain from the basement is even _louder_ than my music. I close my eyes against it and turn the volume up some more. I had always been the good girl. One break from that routine had cost my parents their lives. I had sworn to myself I would never stray from the good girl path again. That meant having the good guy boyfriend and keeping the bad boys at arms reach. It's a shame that I'm just now realizing that I had done the exact _opposite._ Admittedly, I had labeled Stefan as the good guy and Damon as the bad boy based off my first impressions of them. I never realized how drastically wrong first impressions can be.

Now I don't know if I should trust my own judgment ever again. My instincts are another thing entirely. My instincts had warned me that Stefan might not be the good guy he was trying to make me believe. And I would never have struck up the friendship I have with Damon if not for my instincts telling me that there is still a glimmer of good in him. I'm _determined_ to bring that glimmer of good in Damon out into the open and nurture it so that it will grow and consume him. I can tell I'm already making a huge impact on him for my effort. I have a funny feeling that Damon hasn't had a friend, someone _he_ would acknowledge as a friend, since the day Katherine waltzed into his and Stefan's life and set them at each others' throats.

I open my eyes and look down at the necklace in my hands. I _know_ I _should_ be keeping it around my neck. But … I just can't stand the thought of wearing something Stefan gave me. It's been getting more and more uncomfortable wearing the ancient amulet. When I'm in the boarding house, I just carry it around in my hands or a pocket. Damon _hates_ it when I take it off. I'm still working up the courage to ask him to get me something to replace it. This latest lie Stefan told could have had horrible consequences. He could have _killed_ Amber! She had done nothing! I turned a blind eye when I knew Damon was going to kill Bree. She had betrayed him, had nearly got _him_ killed. I knew that he would repay such a betrayal with death. And, even then, I _wanted_ her to die for trying to take Damon from me. The only reason I didn't disobey his order and go inside to watch him kill her was because I knew it would be messy. _Knowing_ that he had killed her is one thing. _Seeing_ the blood fly as he did whatever he did is something else entirely. He probably ripped her heart out. It seems to be his favorite way of getting rid of baddies who come to call.

Damon finally gets tired of my ignoring him. He yanks on the cord to the earbud in my right ear, successfully pulling it out. "You're going to get brood lines on par with St. Stefan's if you keep going down the path your thoughts are heading," he says. "So spill. What's troubling that pretty head of yours?"

I sigh, turn off my IPod and turn towards him. _"No one_ can _ever_ get brood lines to match your brother's," I tell him. "But if I'm not going to sink into despair, I need to vent to someone. And right now, you're the only one I can vent to. My journal's not helping. Bonnie's not speaking to me because I refuse to cut you two out of my life. And Caroline's busy dating Matt. Her help in picking out my dress for Miss Mystic Falls was the most time I've spent with her in ages. Jeremy's not talking to me because I had you erase his memories of the night Vicki died."

Damon turns me towards one of the sofas and puts his hand at the small of my back. I flop on the sofa and Damon lifts my feet so he can sit there and put my feet in his lap. "You said you need to vent, so vent," he says, fiddling with the strings of my sneakers. "I'm all ears."

I sigh and rake a hand through my hair. "Where to even _begin?_ There's only so much I can take and my stress meter is so far past the red zone it's a miracle I haven't cracked," I tell him.

"Why don't you start at the beginning," he suggests.

I close my eyes. "Well, the first event, the one I feel _started_ the snowball effect on the stress-o-meter, was my decision on May 23rd. I chose to break a promise for the first time in my life. I didn't _want_ to be the 'good girl' who attended Family Night because that was expected of her. I had been getting the ever-increasing feeling of being _trapped_ by the 'good girl' routine I had spent my whole life perfecting. I wanted to break free, kick up my heels. I wanted a taste of what it would be like if I lived my life for _me_ rather than everyone else. I wanted to go to a party with my boyfriend of the time. So I did. Then Matt ruined the whole damn night by talking about the future he envisioned for us. And I got that feeling of being _trapped_ again. Because this whole damn _town_ expected me to fall in love with Matt, marry him, have his kids, and all that crap. I had been having a blast until he started down that line. I told him _exactly_ how that line of talking made me feel. I demanded to know where he got the damn idea that I even _wanted_ that life he had planned out all the way to what would be on our tombstones. I told him that, sure, I was dating him. But I only did it because I had fallen into the habit of being the 'good girl' who did what everyone else expected of me. I chewed him up and spat him out. Then I turned on my heel and called my parents for a ride home and then I called Bonnie to vent my frustrations. In the end, I wanted _out_ of the 'good girl' life I had habituated myself into. And my parents lost their lives for what? A party that had been ruined because I started feeling trapped all over again? If I had chosen to go with Caroline instead of asking Matt to go, I would have had a blast, lived it up, and it would have probably been close to sunrise when we finally called it quits. Or I could have just stayed home for Family Night like I had promised. Either way, my parents would probably still be alive. And I probably would _never_ have met your damn brother. Both of which would have been pluses."

"What about me?" he asks.

I open my eyes to see he's raised an eyebrow at me. "I get the feeling that you and I would have met no matter _what_ I chose to do that night," I tell him honestly. "You had come back to open that tomb. That means you would have been sticking around after you arrived in town, whenever that was. Mystic Falls is a _very_ small town. We would have crossed paths, I'm sure of it. Who knows? I could have lost my virginity to _you_ had I done that night differently." Damon smirks at that thought. I close my eyes again. "All Stefan has ever done was lie to my face time and again. I should have known from the instant I found that picture of Katherine in his room that I could never trust him to tell me the truth. I foolishly thought that maybe, just _maybe,_ he'd see that the consequences of lying to me can be pretty severe. I should have _known_ that going back to him would have made him think that I'd _always_ forgive his lies." I take a shaky breath, on the verge of tears. "I can't _handle_ any more lies. I'm already lying to everyone I know about what's going on with my life. I need people to tell me the damn _truth_ so I know what I need to do to protect my loved ones. My parents raised Jeremy and me on the basis of 'Trust for Trust'. To be able to give your trust to someone, you have to be able to receive their trust in return. Jeremy repeated those words to me when I found out he read my journal. He pointed out that, as the saying points out, trust works both ways. I couldn't trust him with the knowledge of what's going on. And he couldn't trust me to tell him the damn truth. When he pointed that out, I realized I was getting as bad as Stefan. I was getting to the point of becoming a compulsive liar. And that's one thought that scares the hell out of me. When you told me Stefan lied about being back on the animal blood diet and I saw for myself that I just can't believe a word he says, I felt my heart breaking. I'm no longer certain about anything he's told me. I know he told the truth about my adoption, but I had to pry it out of him in a manner that made me feel like I was pulling his nails out to get to the truth. I should have realized then that he doesn't think I'm strong enough to handle it when someone makes me face the bitter truth about something in my life. Well, seeing him throw you into a tree when you were trying to pull him off Amber was like getting ice water thrown on me. The rose-tinted glasses were snatched off and I could see the bleak reality: Stefan Salvatore can't be trusted. It's as simple as that."

"What are you going to do about it?" Damon asks.

"There's only one thing I _can_ do about it and be able to live with myself afterwards: I have to cut him out of my life. He could so easily turn on me and lie to my face about it. And he's such a good liar that I won't be able to know whether I should believe him or not. You've done horrible things to people I've known my whole life. You've omitted huge parts of the truth at times. But you have _never_ looked me in the eye and outright lied to my face. In my opinion, telling someone the truth is a sign of respect. You have _always_ respected me enough to tell me as much of the truth as you could at the time. I sometimes wonder if Stefan even knows what the truth _is_ anymore or if he believes even his _own_ lies. I'll help get Stefan back on the animal blood, but then I'm going to tell him to get out of my life before I completely lose all patience with him and stake him myself. One way or another, I need to get him out of my life. I don't want to kill your brother because even with all that lies between the two of you, you're still brothers. You're all the family the other has left. Family is a powerful bond and not one that should be taken lightly. I don't want to take him from you Damon, but I can't handle hearing anymore of his lies." I bite my lip as I debate whether I should tell Damon this or not. I decide that I've been honest with him and he should know this. "Stefan was behind my lie about being able to trust him to help you get the grimiore. He half-strangled me with the necklace and I was so terrified he would yank it completely from my neck and _compel_ me to lie to you that I promised to lie. After what happened the night my parents died, I swore to myself that I would never break another promise. But that was one promise I _shouldn't_ have held up."

"I figured he had something to do with your lies," Damon admits. "At the time, I only wanted to make you understand _just_ how betrayed I felt because of your lie. But later, when I calmed down, I realized that you would not have broken my trust in you unless Stefan somehow had his fingers on the strings. I've seen just how much you hate lying and liars. I've been wondering when you would finally reach your limit with Stefan's lies."

"I've been playing the role of the good girl," I say. "I've been doing what everyone expected of me. 'Date the good guy. Keep the bad boys at arms reach. The more miserable you are, the brighter your smile.' Well, the one everyone was fooled into believing was the 'good guy' is nothing but a compulsive liar who's probably forgotten _how_ to tell the truth without having someone rip into him to get it. You're the one everyone thinks is a bad boy. Even _you've_ come to believe that. But you're not as bad as you like to think you are. There's good in you. As for hiding my misery … I'm not going to let myself continue down this miserable dead-end road. I'm going to take my life back in my own hands and stop doing what others expect of me. I'm going to live my life in a way that makes _me_ happy."

"And what makes _you_ happy?" he asks.

I frown when my mind comes up blank. "To be perfectly honest, I don't really know. I've spent so much of my life doing what will make _everyone else_ happy that I have no idea what makes _me_ happy," I tell him with a sigh.

"Well, you seemed to be having a blast in Georgia," he says. I open my eyes to see he's smirking at me. "C'mon, Elena, you just got through saying that you want to live your life for yourself. What do you want to do _right now?_ Take it from someone who knows, life is best lived in the moment. Tell me the very first thing that pops in your head."

"Dancing," I tell him. "I always _loved_ dancing. I miss it."

Damon smirks and slides out from under my feet so that he's standing in front of me. He holds out a hand. "Dance with me?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"We need music," I tell him, placing my hand in his.

"Elena," he says, pulling me to my feet. "We do _not_ need music. You and I, we have our own little song that no one else hears." He pulls me against him, his left hand on my hip and his right hand holding my left. I place my right hand on his shoulder. "Close your eyes and listen." I obediently close my eyes and listen. First thing I notice is the almost matching rhythm of our breathing. I get the feeling that's not what he's talking about. I listen harder. I feel my heart pounding in my chest and I'm startled that I can hear the much slower _thump-thump-thump_ of his heart. "Elena, you're doing it wrong. Don't listen with your _ears._ Listen for the song with your _heart."_

I frown in confusion but obediently try it his way. He starts guiding me in a slow dance that goes to a rhythm that feels familiar, somehow. After a moment, I recognize the rhythm. It's a melody that constantly plays in the back of my head when I'm around Damon. I've tried my damnedest to find a song that matches the melody but after listening to thousands of songs, I gave up. Now I realize _why_ I couldn't find a song to match: there isn't one. This is the kind of melody only found when two hearts in the same space recognize each other as a match. Damon starts humming the melody as we continue to dance. I open my eyes to meet his ice blue gaze with a warm smile. He winks at me before spinning me out and pulling me back in. After our dance together at Miss Mystic Falls today, I knew that Damon happens to be an exceptionally skilled dancer. Now he shows me the full extent of his skills. We continue dancing to the melody he's humming, the same melody that's been at the back of both our minds whenever we were in the same room as each other.

I have a strong feeling that tonight is just the beginning of something wonderful.

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Sarah: that was much harder to get out than it should have been. My muse was really stubborn and refused to cooperate up until the very end.


	2. Comforting Companionship

Moonlit Seduction  
DG32173

Sarah: Here's Chapter 2 of Moonlit Seduction. I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the first chapter! I hope my lovely readers continue to enjoy this! First I'll reply to reviews and then it's on with the story!

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_YAZMIN V:_ I agree: Damon and Elena _are_ made for each other. Thank you so much for the compliments!

_housesbabe1:_ I'm glad you thought the beginning was amazing.

_jairem:_ yeah, I agree. Elena really should have spewed her frustrations with Stefan's inability to tell the damn truth to Damon. It would be so hilarious, especially if Stefan overheard it but was unable to defend his actions.

_PattyFleur87:_ I still can't believe you're hooked on my stories. But this is the second time I've seen you review to say that. Here's more!

_Sere'sLight:_ I'm glad you liked what I've come up with. Here's the next chapter!

_zikae218:_ thank you so much for the praise. You don't have to wait anymore because here's the next chapter!

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Chapter 2  
Comforting Companionship

After spending nearly an hour dancing with Damon as he hummed our song, he decided to light a fire in the hearth in the living room. Now he's seated on the loveseat facing the hearth and I'm curled up next to him, my head resting in his lap. I don't know how long we've been like this, each taking comfort in the silent companionship of the other.

I'm on the brink of falling asleep. Being in Damon's presence has always been a great comfort to me, even when he was being a badass vampire and hell bent on hurting people I've known my whole life just to get to me. I don't know why that is so. I mean, I _should_ have been afraid of him. But, even then - even when his humanity switch was firmly in the "off" position - I somehow _knew_ that he would never be able to go through with hurting me directly. Even when he had my back pressed to his chest, forcing his blood on me and threatening to turn me into a vampire, I _knew_ he wouldn't be able to go through with forcing me into that state against my will. It didn't stop me from being pissed as hell about his choice of actions. But it was really my fault to begin with. He had decided I had earned his trust for some damn reason. And I went and threw that precious gift back in his face by looking him in the eye and lying. I knew _just_ how hard it is for him to bring himself to trust someone, especially after everything that has happened to him in his long life. And I didn't appreciate that priceless gift until he took it back.

Taking off my necklace and challenging him to compel the truth from me was a dangerous move on my part. He could have compelled me to do any damned thing he pleased and I would have been helpless to stop him. But, for some unknown reason, he chose to give me a second chance. Things between us were shaky and I know that he was keeping a close eye on my words and actions, making damn sure that they matched up. After the opening of the tomb, he came too damn close to flipping his switch again to avoid facing the pain of Katherine's betrayal. But I wasn't going to stand by and let that happen. I had worked too damn hard to bring the man out of the monster the first time. I wasn't going to let him slip back into the monster's frame of mind. So I busted my ass to keep his humanity switch firmly in the "on" position. I think I just might have broken that switch in the process, making it permanently stuck as "on".

I close my eyes and sigh in contentment when Damon starts trailing his fingers through my hair. We've both been wrapped in our own thoughts since we took our positions. I can tell his thoughts are just as tumultuous as my own. So much _emotion_ radiates off of him that even _I_ can sense it, for all that I am a mere human. He once told me that emotions are heightened just as much as everything else when a human becomes a vampire. He told me that's why many vampires keep their humanity switch "off", to avoid the extreme emotional rollercoaster they'd otherwise be trapped on. He said that a human's version of that rollercoaster might as well be the kind made for little kids compared to the extremes vampire emotions can go to.

"You know, your presence has always been soothing to me," he says, voice soft so as not to ruin the moment.

"For all the horrible things you've done to people I've known my whole life, I don't know why it's so, but I can say the same about you," I murmur, keeping my eyes closed.

"Oh?" he asks.

"I've never been afraid of _you,_ Damon. I've only rarely been afraid of the danger your chaotic personality represents to the people around me. Something deep inside of me has told me that you will never hurt me directly. You may hurt those around me to get to me, but something has always told me you would never lay a finger on me with true intent for harm," I explain. "Even that night you caught Stefan and me trying to retrieve Emily's grimiore without you, when you forced your blood on me and threatened to turn me, something inside of me told me that you would never have gone through with it, no matter how angry and hurt you were. Something told me that you would never take the choice from me, no matter what Stefan chose to do with the grimiore."

He's silent for several minutes after that and I sense that he's caught in an internal debate about what to say to that. Finally, he sighs. "The choice of whether to finish transition or not was taken from me by Stefan. He was so determined not to spend eternity alone and didn't give a damn what _I_ wanted at the time. Emily didn't tell me about the tomb until _after_ I was forced to complete transition. _She_ wasn't going to take that choice from me," he says softly. "Even in spite of finding out about the tomb, I held a massive grudge against my brother for so blatantly ignoring my decision not to finish transition up until the moment I saw you and realized you were human. The choice to become a vampire is one that has consequences lasting to the day you are killed permanently. That decision should _never_ be taken from another, no matter what your reasons may be for doing so. You're right in that I would not have gone through with turning you. But I had to make it clear to both you _and_ Stefan that betraying me has enormous consequences. While I may not have forced you into transition, there were other things I was _quite_ willing to do at the time to get my point across had he not complied to my demands to hand over the grimiore."

I open my eyes and watch the flames licking at the loges for several long minutes, thinking over what Damon just told me. "As I said, I hadn't wanted to lie to you about being able to trust him," I say. "But he put me in a situation where I felt my only options were to do so on my own or have him _compel_ me to do so. He was _that_ desperate to keep the grimiore from you. I have never been so _scared_ of someone in my life." I bite my lower lip as I decide if I really want to make this request of him. Finally, I sigh, deciding that I need a way to protect myself from vampire mind games that _won't_ remind me of dark memories every time I look in the mirror. I refuse to go so far as to ingest vervaine. I've given my blood to both brothers to heal them of massive damage inflicted on them by other vampires. I just didn't realize the price of doing so with Stefan would be so damn severe. I had given Damon my blood to heal him from the broken bones Lexi's boyfriend had left him with during our trip to Georgia. In case I need to use my blood to heal him again, I _can't_ ingest vervaine. "Damon, I have a favor I'd like to ask of you."

"You're not one for asking favors of anyone," he says softly. "I'm _extremely_ curious what you want me to do so badly that you'd ask for a favor. I'm all ears."

"I want you to get me something else, some other kind of jewelry, to wear that I can put vervaine in to protect myself. This necklace Stefan gave me holds too many dark memories for me to feel comfortable wearing it anymore. And I don't want to ingest vervaine because what if you need blood to heal from something and I'm the only one who can help you because there's no blood bags around?"

"Like I said in Georgia, your blood is more potent to Stefan and me than you realize," he says softly. "More potent than the blood of anyone else in this world. I only agreed to drink it then because I wasn't willing to risk that guy coming back for more or any other vampire showing up and me being unable to protect you. The situation would have to be pretty damn dire for me to drink your blood again. It took every last ounce of self-control I built up over the years to pull away before I seriously hurt you." He sighs. "But I have a funny feeling you're going to insist on keeping your blood vervaine-free. And I _hate_ seeing you walk around the boarding house without that damn necklace around your neck. So I'm going to grant your favor, not only because of that, but also because I have something I've been wanting to give you. I had this feeling you wouldn't accept the gift before now." He reaches his hand into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulls out a white velvet jewelry case. "Before I give it to you, there are several things you should know about the jewelry set in this case."

"What?" I ask.

"First, the set once belonged to mine and Stefan's mother. She gave it to me just a handful of hours before she died giving birth to Stefan." I open my mouth to protest being able to accept it, but Damon puts his hand over it. "She told me that when I met the girl I would give this set to, I would know it. I never even _thought_ about giving it to Katherine. But from the moment I first laid eyes on you, I kept picturing you wearing it instead of that tawdry piece of junk Stefan gave you. I feel that she would want you to have it."

I sigh. "You said there are several things I should know about the set," I point out when he falls silent for several minutes. "What else should I know about it?"

"About a decade after I was forced to finish my transition, a witch came up to me in a tavern. She told me softly that she worked with the restless souls of those who had left things unfinished when they died. She told me that my mother had come to her in a dream and asked her to cast some enchantments on the jewelry set she had left me as well as pass on a message. That is the only reason I believed a word she had to say. No one but Stefan and I knew about the set Mother left me. And I'm sure _he_ had long forgotten it by the time we turned. I only showed it to him _once,_ when he was twelve and I was nineteen. I had him swear on our family name to tell _no one_ about it before I showed it to him. I knew from the minute Mother gave it to me that Father would _never_ have let me keep it had he known it was in my possession, even if it _was_ Mother's final wish that I have it. Anyways, I let the witch take me to a private room so she could further explain what Mother had told her. She first gave me the rather cryptic message. She also told me that the set was actually several centuries old and had long ago been enchanted against all forms of damage. Then she explained the enchantments my mother had insisted be placed on the set. I wasn't very happy about one of them but I couldn't very well argue with the dead. Particularly when it was my Mother who I would be arguing with." He reaches a hand into his shirt and pulls out a beautiful white-gold three-dimensional heart-shaped pendant with sterling silver inlay hanging from a platinum chain. "This is one of the four pieces of jewelry that make up the set Mother gave me," he says. "The others are a pair of earrings and a locket that match this pendant. The earrings and locket are yours to wear. Once you put them on, only you and I will be able to even _touch_ any of the four pieces. At least this way, no one will _ever_ be able to snatch your protection against vampire mind games from you. The second enchantment the witch placed on the set is that we can use the locket and this pendant to locate each other if we become separated. It's easiest to do it by holding the locket or pendant over a map and concentrating on each other. But, in the instance that there are no maps readily available, we can use them as a sort of compass by concentrating on each other. You are _never_ to take your part of the set off, Elena." He sighs and turns his face away from mine. This tells me that the next enchantment is what he was upset about when it was placed. "The final enchantment that the witch placed is that once you put that jewelry on and I'm wearing the pendant, the jewelry will form a kind of empathy link between us. We will each be able to know _exactly_ what the other is feeling emotionally at any given time. We may not know the reason _behind_ the emotion, but we will be able to sense each other's emotions. As I've never been one to share my emotions with others so freely, I wasn't too pleased about that enchantment when it was placed. But I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised to find that I actually wouldn't mind sharing an empathy link with you."

I suck in a sharp breath at Damon's admittance. That alone tells me just how much he cares about me. That little voice inside of me that tells me I can trust him unconditionally is now telling me that his feelings for me are a whole lot more than the mere friendship he has let me believe they are. It's warning me that I could very easily destroy him in a way that Katherine never could. I have to tread carefully from here on if I take this gift. But that little voice is also telling me that doing this will make everything 'right' again. "I don't know what I've done to make you trust me so damn much that you'd be willing to share your emotions with me in such an _intimate_ way," I say softly. "I'm not sure if I'm grateful or terrified that you feel you can trust me with knowing _exactly_ what you're feeling at any given moment. I've never had someone place _that_ much trust in me before and it's more than a little overwhelming. And the fact that it's _you_ who trusts me so much is even _more_ mind-boggling because I know damn well how hard you fight to make it appear like you care about no one but yourself, _trust_ no one but yourself. It's terrifying that someone who has every reason to doubt the world around him trusts _me_ enough to form an empathy link with me. But at the same time, it's gratifying that you feel I'm _worthy_ of that much trust. I don't feel like I've done anything particularly deserving of such a gift. In fact, I know that I've done many things that should have given you the exact _opposite_ reaction."

Damon chuckles. "Elena, you're a good person. You're kind, you're thoughtful, and you place the whole damn world before yourself. You do whatever it takes to try to protect those you care about, even if it means risking death yourself. You try your damnedest to find something good in everyone around you and when you think you've found something that's the least bit redeeming about someone, you bust your ass trying to save that person from the dark path they are walking. Hell, you even make _me_ want to be the better man when, for the past hundred-and-forty-five years, I've done my damnedest to become irredeemable. You are as honest as you possibly can be. You're so damn loyal that it's actually one of your faults rather than the good thing it should be. When something you do to protect someone has negative consequences elsewhere, you blame yourself because you think that if you had done such-and-such differently, things wouldn't have gone wrong. Hate to break it to you, Elena, but on some things, the choice you made actually had _much_ better results than the choice you _didn't_ make would have had. That is one of your biggest faults. And I'm determined to break you from that way of thinking. You're the most amazing person I have ever had the honor of meeting. But even you have your faults. In your case, the faults are taking traits that would otherwise be good so far that they are actually damaging. Now, I want you to accept my Mother's jewelry as my gift to you. The earrings and the locket already have some dried vervaine in them."

I sigh. "I take it you're going to insist," I say softly.

"I am," he says.

"Then I have no choice but to accept," I concede. I carefully sit up and take the box from his hand. I open it and blatantly admire the gorgeous jewelry for several minutes before taking first the necklace from its bed. I hold it out to Damon. "Help me with this, would you?" I ask.

"With pleasure," he tells me, taking the necklace from me.

I turn my back to him and lift my hair out of the way. He strokes the skin of my neck with his fingers a _lot_ more than necessary to fasten the platinum chain around my neck, but he's Damon. He'll do whatever _he_ wants no matter what anyone else wants him to do. Once he's done, I turn back to face him while I fasten the earrings to my ears, grateful that I had taken out the ones that I had worn for Miss Mystic Falls in the stop we made at my house so I could change into something more comfortable.

As soon as the second earring is fastened in my left ear, I suddenly get hit with a tidal wave of _emotion._ I realize that _this_ is what Damon deals with day-in and day-out. I stare at him in awe. He simply smirks at me, arching an eyebrow. I realize he's _challenging_ me to decipher what his emotions at this moment are. And he knows damn well that I have _never_ backed down from a challenge in my life. I'm not about to start now. I take a steadying breath and close my eyes before letting myself be swept up in the current of emotion the jewelry is echoing from him to me. The first one I identify is surprise. I suspect he's surprised by my method of identifying his raw, intense emotions. I'll explain my reasons for this method later. Next to come at me is worry. Probably a combination of his brother's loss of control, my safety, and the danger represented by the vengeful vampires we inadvertently released from the tomb is behind _that._ Following worry is peaceful lull in the 'current'. A sense of security and comfort washes over me in that lull. Apparently he wasn't joking when he said that my presence is a comfort to him. I let the 'current' of his emotions lazily guide me on to the next emotion. Damon's rather limited patience wears thin and nearly snaps during the process. This causes the 'current' to pick up pace as well as adds some 'turbulence'. I just smile at his aggravation with my method. Once I'm past the section of the emotional 'river' held by comfort and security, I'm startled to find that the next 'emotion' leaves an arid, bitter feeling in my throat. I open my eyes and stare at Damon.

"Thirst," he explains. "A vampire's thirst for blood is tied to our emotions as well as our body. A vampire becoming overly emotional can have some pretty dire consequences. Today was jam-packed with emotions for me. So I'm rather thirsty."

I frown at him. "Go get a blood bag then," I order.

He chuckles. "I can hold off a while longer. I'm rather enjoying the experience of watching and _feeling_ your method of understanding my emotions," he replies.

I sigh, knowing that he wouldn't take chances with _that_ part of him, not while he's around _me._ If he says he can hold off, he means it. I close my eyes again and let his emotional 'river' sweep me back into its 'current'. The arid, bitter feeling in my throat is not as bad as I had originally thought. I know Damon makes sure to keep on top of his feedings, _especially_ after what happened in Georgia where he had to feed from me to heal his broken bones. I shove my thoughts away and let myself _feel_ what Damon's emotional 'river' is trying to get through to me.

Once I'm past the arid, bitter section that signifies his thirst for blood, I suddenly find myself caught in a series of rapids, whirlpools, and gullies. The 'current' keeps getting faster and faster, almost as if I'm in a _real_ river and rapidly approaching a waterfall, only it doesn't appear as if it's ever going to come. I panic and fling myself out of the little trance I had put myself in to analyze Damon's emotions. I open my eyes to see that his side of the loveseat is vacant. I don't bother testing for residual heat because there won't be any, even if he had just stood up. I raise my hand to clutch the locket he gave me just to make sure that it _hadn't_ been a dream. My fingers curl around the cool metal and I let out a sigh. It's not really of relief, because knowing that one of Damon's emotions puts him through _that_ wringer is horrifying. But something tells me that whatever that emotion was, it could actually become a good one if a certain event takes place. What that event is, I haven't a clue. I close my eyes and consider going back into the trance to discover what, exactly, that emotion was. But my instincts are warning me I have to tread very carefully around the topic of _that_ emotion. So instead of allowing myself to be swept back into that turbulence, I send up a quick prayer that the brothers have something for humans to eat here before getting off the loveseat and making my way to the kitchen.

I'm startled to find Damon standing in front of the stove, cooking. "I figured you'd be hungry by now," he says, half-turning to wink at me before turning back to the pans on the stove. "I happen to be a pretty good cook so I figured I'd make you something to eat."

"The only ones who live here are vampires, who don't _need_ human food," I say slowly, making my way forward to take a seat at one of the two place settings on the island counter. "The most I had even dared hope for was some bags of chips."

"Before Mother died giving birth to Stefan, she had instilled in me a love of the culinary arts, along with numerous other types of art as well," Damon replies. "Only a handful of years after I was forced to complete my transition, I started losing interest in the goings on around me. I decided that if I wasn't going to take off my ring in a nice sunny spot out of sheer boredom, I needed to pick out an eternal hobby. Once I realized that my sense of taste had been heightened just as much as everything else upon transitioning into a vampire, I decided cooking would be my eternal hobby. Another reason I chose it was because it's a way of honoring my mother's memory. She was a whiz in the kitchen. And I was the only one who was given the honor of learning her personal recipes." He turns to throw a quick smirk at me. "As I said in Georgia, on a healthy diet of blood, my body functions pretty normally." He turns back to what he's cooking. "Stefan refuses to learn to control his inner vampire. His diet of animal blood has driven it completely mad. You should know that he has only managed to last a decade, tops, on that repulsive diet before something happened to get the taste or scent of fresh human blood to his senses. He then loses all control and goes on a murder-spree, killing his victims so horrendously in his effort to get every last drop of blood in their system that even _I_ am horrified by such brutality. And, Stefan, _you_ shut up. She has _every_ right to know what you're like. I'm not telling her details, but I could." He's silent for a moment, listening to whatever Stefan's saying down in the basement. "Believe whatever you want, brother. Just remember, _I'm_ not the one who has lost even her friendship because of a complete inability to tell the damn truth. I've always been as honest as I could be with her. You heard damn well what we've been talking about up here. She can't even stand to wear that piece of junk you gave her to protect her from vampires. She's _so_ thoroughly disgusted by your lies that she asked _me_ to give her something to replace it. Now this conversation is _through._ I _don't_ want to burn the meal I'm preparing for Elena." Throughout the bickering between the brothers, I get a sense of triumph echoing from Damon through our jewelry. Something tells me the triumph is felt for much more than just seeing the 'good brother' reveal just how dark his true colors really are. But after my experience with that mystery emotion that is tearing Damon apart, I'm hesitant to pry too deeply. The trance-state I had used to understand his emotions earlier had been a vital part of the self-defense lessons Jeremy and I had dropped after the crash that killed our parents and could easily have killed me as well. When we were taught how to put ourselves into a trance-state, we were told that it's damned useful when we have been going through stressful situations, one right on top of another. It can be used to sort out emotions, to simply clear our heads, or even to get in a state where we can easily identify what we truly want. It's been _months_ since I was last willing to fall into a self-induced trance. I had forgotten how _powerful_ the experience can be. "Elena," Damon amused voice breaks through my musing. "You really need to stop getting lost in thought. Or at least warn a person before you do so. You didn't hear a word I said just now, did you?"

I feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "Sorry," I tell him. "I find I'm doing that a lot lately. What were you saying?"

He chuckles. "I said _many_ things before I realized you had zoned out on me," he replies. "Some of which aren't important right now. But I _am_ curious where you learned how to put yourself into a trance-state like the one you used to read my emotions. You were coming _very_ close to falling back into such a state just now." He slides a plate in front of me holding some sort of stir-fry, steamed vegetables, and what I immediately recognize as home-style baked macaroni and cheese. "Bon appétit," he tells me.

I pick up my spoon. "About five years ago, Mom and Dad located a rather unorthodox martial artist who was willing to train Jeremy and me in self-defense. He claimed that we were too old to learn _everything_ he knew," I say. "We'd have had to start training from the time we were toddlers to be able to master it _all._ But he agreed to teach us a number of useful tricks to protect ourselves. He taught us how to force ourselves into a trance-state as a form of extreme meditation. It's been useful for many things besides just finding 'inner peace'. About six months before the crash that killed my parents, he said that we were well on our way of mastering the things he was able to teach us. He said that the rest of the journey to mastering what he was training us in could only be done on our own. He … I think he had a touch of the gift of prophecy because he took me off for a one-on-one training session just a few days before he left Mystic Falls. While he was training me, he talked to me about many things to watch out for in the near future. He wouldn't explain what he was talking about, only that I would know for myself when it came to pass. He told me that at times, he gets strong feelings about the future of another and that those feelings have been disturbingly accurate every single time. He told me that over the course of training me in particular, that sense he has was becoming increasingly stronger. He told me that he had decided to tell me what his sense was warning him about my future that day because the strength had become so powerful he claimed it was on par with getting hit by a bus. Which he admitted to having occurred to him at one point in his life. He would never tell any of us his name. Jeremy and I were only to call him 'Master' while we were his students. He was _very_ secretive about his person life and the detail about him getting hit by a bus once is the only thing I know about his past. He made a lot of references to 'taming a crow' and 'a wolf disguising itself as a sheep' when he was explaining what his sense was telling him. I took care to write down everything he told me that day in my journal entry that night. Even now, when I think I finally understand what he was actually referring to with those two phrases, some parts of the prophesy still elude me. And some parts I don't even want to think about because I had nightmares for weeks after hearing it all." I smile slightly as I recall what Master did when he was done sharing the prophesy. "And just when I was about ready to have a panic attack from it all, he physically threw me into the river we were walking the bank of. He told me that I must either learn to swim through my trials as if they were the river he threw me in or I will sink below the surface chained to a boulder because of them. When I made it back to the shore, he handed me a diamond that looked like it was of high quality and a rose quartz that had several noticeable flaws. Both were uncut. He told me to examine them _closely_ and I'd be surprised by my findings. He even provided a gem-cutter's magnifying glass for me to use. As I examined them, he told me that one gem represented the crow and the other the wolf." I shake my head. "It took me a while to realize what he meant by being surprised. Where I thought that surely the flaws in the quartz would be irreparable, I found that they were only on the surface. A little care and attention to detail while cutting it would completely rid it of those deceptive flaws."

"And the diamond?" Damon asks softly.

"The diamond had only _appeared_ to be of high quality," I tell him. "When I put it under the gem-cutter's magnifying glass, I discovered so many _hidden_ flaws that I realized that it would completely shatter if I tried to have it cut. Master told me I could have only one of the gems to keep. I gave him back the diamond. The quartz was actually worth a _lot_ more. I still have the quartz tucked away in my room. I never got it cut because, to be honest, I love the lesson it represents: something may look faulty and worthless at first glance but enough care and attention to detail can make it worth _much_ more than the _truly_ faulty stone trying to pass itself off as a perfect diamond. " I smirk at Damon. "Ever since that day, I've found that I much prefer quartz to diamonds. Maybe one day I'll have the quartz cut and set into a piece of jewelry, but I'm going to make a firm request that the flaws be left in place. If I can't find a jeweler who will fulfill my request, I'm going to leave it uncut. I like the flaws because they give the quartz a lot more personality and hidden potential than if they were gone." After that, I eat my rapidly cooling meal in silence. Damon does the same, lost in thought over what I told him. When I finish, I put my silverware and plate in the sink. "You know, you and Stefan remind me of the lesson Master taught me with the quartz and the diamond," I tell Damon.

"Which gem represents me?" he asks.

"You remind me of the quartz. You have a lot of noticeable flaws on the surface. But I've found that, like the quartz, beneath those flaws is something worth a whole lot more than the diamond that represents Stefan," I tell him. "And, like the quartz, I discovered I'd rather you kept those quirks." I'm interrupted by a huge yawn. "Well, I've had a long day that was probably just as full of emotional turmoil as yours. So I'm gonna go to bed. I'm gonna take the set of rooms next to yours. G'nite, Damon."

I leave him there, stunned speechless by my admittance. I grab my duffel bag from the chair I had put it in earlier and then climb the stairs to the set of rooms next to Damon's. I'd rather not enter the wing that holds Stefan's room. I quickly get ready for bed. As I climb under the covers of the massive canopy bed, I find myself smiling in spite of all the hell I had gone through today. In spite of the danger that I can still sense in the air, I feel at ease. Maybe it has something to do with finally starting to face and untangle the complex web of emotions that Damon causes to rise up within me. Whatever happens from here on, I know that Damon will do his damnedest to protect me or die trying. That much devotion directed at me should be overwhelming, but I find it to be comforting. There's a smile of contentment on my lips as I drift off to sleep.


	3. More About 'Master' and Bonding

Moonlit Seduction  
DG32173

Sarah: wow! I feel so loved! _Nine_ reviews added within a few days of posting the last chapter! Anyways, here's the review replies and then Chapter 3. Also, I don't own _Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron._ But it is one of my all time favorite movies. Nor do I own the song _"Get Off My Back"_ from said movie. It's sung by Bryan Adams. Oh, and you will get a _huge_ hint as to who 'Master' was this chapter. Enjoy!

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_Cat1961:_ I've never heard of the 'Kung Fu' TV series before you mentioned it. I was thinking more of the 'Karate Kid' movies when I was writing about it. And I'm so glad you think this has "depth". I'm just writing as my muse dictates. Sometimes she's super stubborn and I have to figure some stuff out on my own. Glad you're enjoying it.

_jairem:_ yeah, Elena's given up on Stefan. And if you read _By the Light of the Moon,_ you'll be reading Damon's view with a bit of Stefan's view tacked onto the end of each chapter. You'll have your answer to your questions.

_YAZMIN V:_ you got it on the first try. Awesome job! You're the only reviewer to mention the symbolism involving the crow and the wolf in your review.

_PattyFleur87:_ I've been Team Delena since Ian Somerhalder appeared on screen saying "Hello, Brother" in Season 1, Episode 1, _Pilot._ I just _love_ the 'eye thing'. And every time you say you're "hooked" on my stories, I feel so proud to have such a high compliment paid to my writing.

_mokichaas:_ here's the update!

_kfulmer7:_ in reference to your review in Chapter 1, I _always_ love scenes where Damon and Elena are dancing. As for your review in Chapter 2, I have yet to have a chance to read the books. But I always loved the idea of my favorite pair connected by an empathy link. And I think Damon would make an excellent chef. I truly enjoyed writing the scene were Elena compared the boys to the gems her Master had given her a choice of.

_Sere'sLight:_ I loved writing about the gems and Elena comparing them to the boys.

_CharlSmith:_ I'm anxious to find out where my muse takes the empathy link as well. Glad you enjoyed it.

* * *

Chapter 3  
More About 'Master' and Bonding

I sigh as I perch on the window seat in the room I took over in the boarding house. I look down at the leather-bound journal in my hand. It's not the one I'm currently working on. This is the journal I was keeping during the last few months Master was still in Mystic Falls. I had gone home to pick up a few more things that I would need for an extended stay in the boarding house. Jenna had joked that I might as well move into the boarding house, given how I'm here more often than I am at home. Damon had been my ride to help me get the things I would need. He told Jenna that it was an excellent idea. I just elbowed him in the stomach before climbing the stairs to my room to pack. While Damon was occupied downstairs with Jenna, I had lifted the loose floorboard next to my bed and dug out this journal. I have a feeling Master's prophecy is quickly coming to pass and I need to refresh myself on the full extent of it.

I take a steadying breath. Damon's downstairs trying to get Stefan back on the animal diet. From the frustration our jewelry is echoing to me from him, it's not going as planned. He's going to be down there for a while. I send him a gentle wave of encouragement. He echoes back gratitude for it but also the feeling that he's about ready to rip his brother a new one. I chuckle and send him an emotional warning to _try_ to be sympathetic. He _strongly_ echoes the emotional equivalent of scoffing at the notion of _him_ being sympathetic. I roll my eyes and shake my head, though I'm grinning. It's been two days since the events of Miss Mystic Falls and Damon and I have had countless silent conversations using just our emotions ever since I put his mother's earrings and locket on. We've also discovered that if we concentrate, we can even send mental images to each other. But trying to send actual thoughts has given us _both_ nasty migraines, so we quickly gave up on that.

Suddenly, the image of me seated on this window seat and opening the journal in my hands as it would be viewed from the door leading to the hall pops into my mind and I know Damon sent it to me. I send him a wave of exasperation. He sends the image again. "Okay, okay," I groan, knowing he'll hear me. "I'm opening the journal," I continue, flipping to the first entry. I had promised him that I would find the entry where I had noted down Master's prophecy while he tried yet again to get his brother to drink the animal blood. We agreed to go over it together once I've found it and he's done with this attempt to deal with his brother.

I turn my attention to the journal entries and begin reading. As I read, I notice something really strange. It isn't until about a third of the way through that I realize exactly what had been going on.

_June 30, 2008_

_Dear Diary,_

_I've been noticing some strange things about Master lately. I've been having a real bout of clumsiness lately, often ending up with cuts and scrapes. Like today, I was skating home on my rollerblades. I didn't notice that the pothole at the corner of the street had grown until it was too late. I landed on my hands and knees, scraping my palms and shins to the point of bleeding. I took my blades off and walked the rest of the way home. When I came through the front door, I noticed that Master was playing chess with Jeremy. He has this saying about a healthy body and a healthy mind equaling a healthy life, or something like that._

_Anyways, he looked up from his game with Jer and as soon as he saw the blood on my hands and legs, his nostrils flared and his eyes started changing. He quickly closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his teeth before telling me to get cleaned up before my wounds got infected. He sounded really tense when he said it. I could have __sworn__ that just before he closed his eyes, the whites had started dying blood red. But that's crazy, right? Anyways, he left while I was getting cleaned up. Jer said that Master had postponed their game until tomorrow, saying that something had come up that couldn't be delayed. Master has this strange way of speaking. He's always so formal and his wording is as if he's from another time._

I lower my old journal, my whole body shaking like a leaf. Damon sends a wave of worry at me. "Damon, you should get up here," I say, my voice shaking as much as my body.

Before I can even blink my eyes, Damon's kneeling on the floor next to me. "What is it, Elena?" he ask, his worry evident in his eyes.

"I don't think you and Stefan were the first vampires in my life," I say softly.

He freezes as only a vampire can, becoming as motionless as a statue. "What do you mean?" he asks. I pass him my journal and point to the entry wordlessly. He reads the two paragraphs before letting out a blue streak that has my jaw dropping faster than a stone. When he's finished, he shakes his head. "What can you tell me about your Master?" he demands. "Physical descriptions, the way he spoke, anything."

"He stood about five foot eleven. He was thin but very muscular. He had brown hair and dark brown eyes. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. His face was angular with high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a straight nose," I say, closing my eyes and bringing up an image of Master in my mind as I last saw him. "He was _always_ impeccably well-dressed, even when training Jer and me. I don't think I've ever seen him dressed in anything that could be _remotely_ considered casual. As for how he talked … he talked like he was a nobleman from the middle ages. Just before he left, he told Jer and me that we will see him again one day."

"Did he ever tell you how he got hit by a bus?" Damon asks.

I nod. "He said that a little girl had chased a ball out into the road in the path of the bus. He managed to push her out of the way at the last second but got hit by the bus himself," I reply. I sigh. "That wasn't the only entry in that journal that mentioned Master exhibiting the traits of a vampire." I take the journal from him and flip back to the entry for June 11th of last year before passing it to Damon again. "This one mentions Master displaying an inhuman amount of speed and maneuverability as he avoided getting hit by a stray arrow when he was training me in archery. Jeremy had startled me by speaking up behind me just as I loosed the arrow. It went wide of the bull's eye Master had hung on a tree, heading straight for Master. But he _dodged_ it. I was using a powerful longbow he had given me. That arrow was going pretty damn fast. _Too_ damn fast for a human to have dodged. I didn't even see Master move."

Damon quickly reads that journal entry, his lips pressed together in a grim line. Finally, he sighs and hands the journal back to me. "You need to find the entry that holds the prophecy he gave you," he tells me. "I've never heard of a vampire having the gift of prophecy. I have a feeling we may need to figure out this prophecy. I'm gonna go grab us a couple bottles of bourbon. I have a feeling we may need it before the night is through."

"Okay," I say, turning my attention back to my journal. I flip forward to June 30th again then go to the next entry, dated the very next evening.

_July 1, 2008_

_Dear Diary,_

_As if the thing with Master yesterday wasn't weird enough, today things got downright __bizarre__. I watched Master heal almost instantly from a gash that __should__ have sent him to the emergency room. I mean, a normal person doesn't cut the palm wide open with a steak knife and heal from it in seconds! And what was that thing he did with his eyes when he told me that the 'incident' will stay between us? And that strange pressure on my mind, almost like someone was holding it in a firm grip? Creepy…_

_I __tried__ to tell Mom and Dad about it, but when I opened my mouth to tell them, something entirely different came out. And for the past couple weeks, Master has been watching me carefully during training, as if he's checking for some sign or other that something about me has changed._

_I also have this strange feeling that my time training under Master is drawing to a close. Nothing's changed in the training or our routine or anything. It's just this strange sense I get that I'm going to have to say goodbye to him soon. And why does time seem to be speeding up, pushing me towards an unknown destination. I get the feeling I just jumped out of an airplane with a parachute that doesn't open every time I pull the cord. I just hope I have a soft landing._

_Anyways, I keep getting this feeling of being 'trapped' in a routine that I don't want to be in. I've always been the 'good girl', doing what everyone else wants me to do. I'm starting to feel trapped by it. I feel the need to break free of the chains holding me down. Tony once told me that I'm like a wild mustang someone has mistakenly put a bridle and saddle on. I feel like I'm chomping at the bit and itching to rid myself of this tack, just like the mustang in Tony's simile. I want to be free of these chains. I want to do what __I__ want and to hell with what everyone else thinks. I brought this up to Master today while we were making dinner. He was reaching for a steak knife at the time and accidentally grabbed the blade. That's how he cut his hand. Anyways, after dinner, Mom, Dad, Jer, Master, and I sat down and watching __Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron__. And I feel like I'm Spirit when those men had taken him to the fort to try and break him. Only, unlike Spirit, I feel like life is slowly succeeding at breaking down my fire. I can't let that happen. I want to run free. Free and wild as a mustang._

_Immediately after the movie, I downloaded the song "Get Off My Back" from the movie onto my IPod and I'm now listening to it on repeat._

I put my journal down on the window seat and go to my purse to pull out my IPod. I search through my songs and smile when I find that I still have it. I hit play and repeat. I close my eyes and start singing along, letting the music take over my body.

"_Well you think that you can take me on  
You must be crazy  
There ain't a single thing you've done  
That's gonna phase me  
Oh, but if you want to have a go  
I just want to let you know_

"_Get off my back and into my game  
Get out of my way and out of my brain  
Get outta my face or give it your best shot  
I think it's time you better face the fact  
Get off my back"_

Suddenly, a masculine voice joins mine as the song continues. I snap my eyes open to see Damon smirking at me. I wave him over and he flashes forward to start dancing right up against me as we continue to sing to the song.

"_You know it's all just a game that I'm playing  
Don't think that that you can't find a way in  
That's all I'm saying  
Oh, if you want to have a go  
I just want to let you know_

"_Get off my back and into my game  
Get out of my way and out of my brain  
Get outta my face or give it your best shot  
I think it's time you better face the fact  
Get off my back_

"_Oh, if you want to have a go  
I just want to let you know_

"_Get off  
Get off  
Yeah, get off my back and into my game  
Get out of my way and out of my brain  
Get outta my face or give it your best shot  
You know this train is coming of this track  
Get off my back._

"_Yeah, get off my back  
Get off  
_

"_Get off  
Get off  
Get off  
Get off  
Get off my back!"_

Damon and I collapse against each other, laughing so hard we both have tears in our eyes. We keep laughing for quite some time because just as one of us starts sobering up, the other gives in to giggles and we're both laughing again. "Stop making me laugh," I gasp out between giggles.

"Stop making _you_ laugh? _You_ stop making _me_ laugh!" he retorts amid his laughter.

It takes us nearly half an hour to calm down. "I didn't know you could sing," I tell him once we're relaxing on the bed next to each other.

"I've always been able to carry a tune, even before I became a vampire. But to be honest, _any_ vampire can sing if they so wanted to. Perfect vocal control and all that," he replies.

"I bet you've used _that_ ability to amuse yourself plenty of times," I reply.

"You're damn right I have," he retorts. "Anyways, what made you decide to sing and dance all of a sudden?"

"I just had this urge to listen to the song after I found it mentioned in that journal," I tell him. "And once it started playing, the music took over and I was singing and dancing before I realized it."

"You have a damn good voice for a human," he tells me. "Ever considered taking up a career in music?"

I shake my head. "Nah," I tell him. "I was more interested in acting than music. Song and dance was just a hobby. I got put in a drama class in seventh grade and I was hooked. I was in drama classes every year since up until this year." I sigh. "After my parents died, I couldn't bring myself to get up the drive to continue the classes. I dropped a lot of things that I used to do. Stefan may have saved my _life_ that night, but a large part of me died alongside my parents. I'm only now getting parts of the girl I was back. But there are many things I have just lost the drive to do. Such as acting. I'm doing enough of that now that I don't need to do it professionally. And cheerleading had always been something I did to please my mom. I've spent my whole life trying to please everyone _but_ me. I was usually downright miserable. And the one night I did something to make _me_ happy, my life goes from simple misery to pure hell. But I can't dwell on what life would be like if I had done things differently. That's a road that only goes in circles with nothing ever getting done. The past is the past. I just gotta suck it up and learn from it so I don't repeat those mistakes."

"So, where are you going to go from here?" he asks.

"I thought that my mistake that night had been in choosing to live for _me_ for just one night," I reply. "So I went back to the whole 'good girl' routine. But I'm sick and tired of always doing what everyone expects of me. If I'm ever going to get anywhere in life, I need to start living my life for myself. I need to stop keeping myself completely off the list of what matters most in my life. I need to figure out what I want in life. I need to figure out what my priorities _should_ be rather than letting others decide that for me. If my parents are ever going to rest in peace, or as much peace as they'll be in with Jer and I choosing to keep the supernatural aspect of the world in our lives, then I need to start picking up the pieces of my life and finally learn how to make my own decisions rather than doing what others decide that I should do. I'll never forget them or anything they taught me. But I need to let go of them. Nothing is ever going to bring them back to me. Even if it were possible for a witch to raise them from the dead, I wouldn't ask it of one. Vampires are one thing. True necromancy is something else entirely. So I have to let go and move on with my life. I can't dwell on every mistake I've made in my life. That's not living. That's not even _existing._ That's just wasting away and hurting everyone who cares about me. That's doing what Stefan does. He can't let go of the mistake's he's made nor the mistakes you've made. _Everyone_ makes mistakes in their life. No one is perfect. Holding every little mistake someone has made over their head forever is just being petty. People change as time goes on. Even vampires can change. You're proof of that. When you first came to this town, you were an absolute asshole who cared about no one but himself. But you've changed these past few months. The night you offered to compel away Jeremy's memories of how Vicki died was the first sign of that change. Then you saved me when that vampire made me crash to turn me into a snack. You got me out of my car, made sure I was okay, and then took me to Georgia to get me away from all my troubles for 'just five minutes'." He chuckles at that. "That was an even bigger sign that you were changing. I truly hadn't wanted to break your trust about trusting Stefan over the grimiore. I fought like hell with him about it up until he grabbed the necklace and half-strangled me with it in his desperation to get me to promise to lie to you." I close my eyes, remembering the immense terror I had felt, terror of having him _compel_ me to obey him. Damon sucks in a sharp breath as he gets an echo of the terror I had felt. "I have never been more scared of someone than I was of Stefan in that moment. So I made a promise I should not have upheld. But I was terrified of what he'd do if I had broken that promise." I sigh. "Anyways, I've seen so many examples of you becoming a better person, so many signs that the man is coming out of the monster. I can't even begin to list them all. You're a better man than you were, Damon. I know you think that's because of me, but _I_ think you just needed a reason to _care._ That I happen to be that reason must be some cosmic joke considering I look like the one who turned you _into_ the monster."

"There _is_ a physical difference between you and Katherine," he interrupts.

I open my eyes and turn to look at him. "Oh?" I ask.

"Apparently, my brother failed to mention it," he remarks dryly. "Your birthmark." I smack him. "Ow! What was that for?" he demands, rubbing his arm.

"Some gentleman you are!" I snap. The only way he could have seen my birthmark is if he's seen me naked because it's on my left hip.

"_I_ can't help it if you leave your window wide open and unlocked when you're changing!" he protests. "You should know better considering there's a vampire in town that happens to prefer using your window to get into your house rather than the front door."

I groan and smack him again for good measure. "You're _supposed_ to be a gentleman," I tell him. "You were born in an era where good manners were the standard."

"I never really _had_ good manners, not even as a human," he retorts. "I was constantly slipping in and out of women's rooms, whether they invited me there or not."

I sigh. "You're incorrigible," I tell him.

"And here you were just telling me that I _have_ changed," he points out.

"On _some_ things you have," I shoot back, though I'm grinning as I say it. Our verbal sparring always leaves both of us grinning, though I try to hide mine. "But on the subject of manners, you've probably been a complete caveman since the day you were brought into this world."

He chuckles. "I wouldn't say _caveman,"_ he says. "I'm not _that_ old."

"Considering the fact no one's ever told me how old you are, I wouldn't know, now would I?" I tease.

"I was born June 28, 1840," he replies, his blue eyes twinkling. "I was twenty-four when I transitioned into a vampire."

I smirk. "I _knew_ you weren't even twenty-five when you were turned," I tell him. I sigh. "I should get back to reading over my old journal entries. We still need to know more about that prophecy."

"Look tomorrow," he tells me. "The fact that the mere mention of a song in a journal entry distracted you to the point of singing and dancing to that song tells me that you need to take a break. Besides, it's after midnight."

"It is?" I gasp, looking at my watch to see that he's right. "How'd it get so late?"

"Time flies when you are distracted by something or someone," he replies, winking at me. "Now, I'll leave you to get some sleep. We'll talk more in the morning."

Almost of its own accord, my hand lashes out to grab his wrist as he moves to get up. "Stay?" I ask softly.

Something flashes in his eyes but it and the accompanying emotion are there and gone too fast for me to do more than note that they had appeared at all. "I shouldn't," he says tersely, though he doesn't move any further.

"Just tonight?" I plead. "I … I don't want to be alone."

He looks away, closes his eyes, and breathes in deeply through his teeth. Finally, he sighs. "Let me turn off the light and your IPod," he says softly.

"Damon," I start.

"I'll be right back," he assures me, meeting my eyes. "But just tonight."

I search his eyes before nodding and releasing his wrist. He's true to his word, vamping over to the window seat to turn off my IPod, zipping over to the door to turn off the overhead. Then he's back in the bed next to me before I can even count to two. I curl up next to him and rest my head on his chest, wrapping my arm around his waist. He stiffens at the contact but doesn't pull away. "Goodnight, Damon," I say softly.

"Goodnight, Elena," he replies just as softly.


	4. Not a Teddy Bear

Moonlit Seduction  
DG32173

Sarah: Here's Chapter 4 of _Moonlit Seduction._ This one actually starts when Damon and Elena are waking up and will show their early morning activities. A change of pace, considering the last three took place at night. I hope you enjoy. Also, be aware of big plot twists in this chapter.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_YAZMIN V:_ I'm not going to say whether or not you were right about who 'Master' is. But he will appear in this story. No anytime soon, though. So glad you enjoyed last chapter.

_jairem:_ Like I said to YAZMIN V above, I'm neither confirming nor denying the identity of 'Master' right now. You'll find out eventually, though. I had a lot of fun writing the closing scenes of the chapter.

_delena and nian:_ like I said to the two reviewers above, I'm not revealing _who_ 'Master' was until much later in this fanfic. But I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter.

_remeyqueen74:_ here's the update!

* * *

Chapter 4  
Not a Teddy Bear

As I wake up, I first notice that I'm pressed against a hard, masculine body that is quite cool to the touch. The next thing I notice is that whoever I'm pressed against is running his fingers through my hair in a way that is thoroughly relaxing. The third thing I notice is that the scent flooding my nose, which is pressed into the man's chest, is both familiar and intoxicating. Even more than half-asleep, I recognize the scent as belonging to Damon. Before I can panic, my sense of touch tells me that we're both fully dressed. His fingers continue to run through my hair and I so desperately want to go back to sleep but I know that there's so much we have to do today that I can't delay opening my eyes much longer.

Despite this knowledge, I snuggle as close to Damon as physically possible. He stiffens and the fingers running through my hair freeze. I frown and let out a little whimper. He sighs. By now I'm awake enough to understand his words when he speaks. "Elena, we need to get up," he says.

"No," I grumble sleepily, clenching my eyes tighter shut. He tries to pry himself out of my grasp but I foil that by rolling on top of him.

"Elena, you need to get off me," he says, a clear warning in his voice. I ignore the warning and cling to him with all four limbs. He groans. He can't even use his hands to pry me off him because I have his arms pinned to his sides with mine and he can't fight to free them without risking hurting me, and I know he would never do that willingly. "You know, this could send entirely the wrong impression to anyone who happens to walk in here." I ignore him and proceed to use him as a big, undead teddy-bear-slash-pillow as I proceed to succumb to sleep. But he refuses to give up. "Elena, let me up or you might not like the consequences." I ignore him, knowing that he won't hurt me. He sighs. "I warned you," he says.

Suddenly, I'm on my back beneath him and he has my hands pinned above my head while his legs straddle my hips. I snap my eyes open. "Damon, what are you –mrph!" I start, only to be cut off when he lowers his head and captures my lips with his. Since my mouth was conveniently open, he proceeds to plunge his tongue into my mouth. I stare at his closed eyelids in shock as he proves his superb skill as a kisser. But it's not a gentle, loving kiss. No, it's a savage and brutal kiss, the kind used to show complete dominance over your partner. I fight against him, fight to turn my head away, to free my wrists, _something._ But he uses his immense vampire strength to keep me motionless beneath him. He brings his teeth into the kiss, though thankfully _not_ his fangs. One of his upper canines breaks open the inside of my lower lip, causing it to bleed. Rather than backing off, he suckles at my lip, feeding off my blood. I fight even harder against him, squirming and writhing beneath him. I gasp when all that succeeds in doing is to arouse him. I can feel his rapidly forming erection pressing against my core through our jeans. I feel tears streaming down my cheeks as I try futilely to break free.

Then, in an instant, he's standing at the foot of the bed. I prop myself up on my arms to glare fiercely at him. "I am _not_ a teddy bear," he says darkly. "Don't _ever_ think of me like that again." Then he's gone, using his extreme speed to leave my room.

I let out a cry of frustration and throw a pillow so hard it hits the wall on the opposite side of the room. I remember clearly what Maser had said about the crow I was to tame in his prophecy. He said that the crow could be tamed only to a point. It could be tamed to feed from my hand and destroy any who would harm me and my loved ones. But it would forever be wild at heart. It was not one to be put in a cage. It was smart enough to recognize any attempt to do so and once it freed itself, it would first prove itself to still be a wild thing before flying away forever, never trusting another again. I've come to recognize Damon as being the one Master referred to as the crow. I've been busting my ass to bring him back in touch with his humanity, but he just proved to me that, for all the success I have had, he is _still_ a vampire and _still_ accepts his vampire side much more easily than his humanity.

I groan and push myself off the bed. I go to the dresser and dig around for a set of underwear and a pair of socks. Then I go to the closet and find a blouse and a pair of jeans to wear today. After _trying_ to go to school yesterday, I realized that I would get nothing accomplished there because I'd just be worrying about what's going on here at the boarding house. And when Damon sensed through our jewelry that I was worrying again, he would send me mental images that either had me blushing scarlet or biting my lip to keep from laughing for what would seem like no reason. So, no, I'll get nothing done at school. Rick is going to bring my school work each day after school and stop by each morning to pick it up and take it to my teachers for grading.

I take my clothes to the bathroom and lock the door behind me. I learned _that_ lesson Sunday morning. If I leave the door unlocked, Damon would use it as an excuse to pop in whenever he wants. At least I was in a bubble bath and there were still plenty of bubbles on top. But now I know he's seen me naked at _least_ once. He has to have, to know about my birthmark.

I sigh as I start a steaming hot bubble bath. This time I choose the cherry blossom scented bubble bath from the selection Damon had stocked in the little closet thingy. I shed my clothes while the claw-foot tub is filling. When the tub is filled nearly to the rim with water and has bubbles piling nearly four inches _above_ the water, I turn off the water and climb in. I wince at the heat but force myself to relax in it. I swallow the lump in my throat and squash the tears trying to fill my eyes. I don't know _how_ he knew I was equating him to a big, undead teddy bear. But I really shouldn't have been. It wasn't fair to him. He might like to hold Teddy whenever he's in my room, but that's as far as he goes on sentimental stuff. He had every right to be upset about me thinking of him as a teddy bear.

I lay my head back against the rim of the tub and close my eyes. I send the emotional equivalent of an apology to Damon but I don't get anything back. He's put his walls up. He's still pissed. I sigh. From just the past two days of sharing emotions and mental images with him, I know firsthand that vampire emotions are tremendously powerful. I haven't yet felt the intensity of anger as a vampire feels it. I have a feeling that's one of the emotions Damon has been very careful to keep _out_ of the empathy link.

I take slow, even breaths and relax myself further, quickly achieving the trance-state. I need to sort through my actions of last night and this morning because the reasoning behind them eludes me. Am I simply lonely now that I'm no longer with Stefan? I don't think that's it. I've been attracted to Damon from the moment I laid eyes on him. Of course, he's a _very_ attractive man. But there's something else there, something that's a whole lot more than mere attraction.

I know he feels like I've been sending him mixed signals these past two days. And I know that his confusion over those mixed signals is partially behind his choice of how to take revenge for thinking of him as a teddy bear. But to be honest, I don't understand my own actions. I once told Damon that we have something. I chose the word 'connection'. But even then it felt like an inadequate description of our bond. There is something powerful and primal tying us together. The term kindred spirits comes to mind, but are we? No, I think it's something even more potent than that. I do what I did the other night and throw my spirit into figuring this out. I make my spirit dive into our bond.

Warmth and light flood through me like a tidal wave. Suddenly, I find myself being swept through the current of that warmth and light. Next thing I know, I realize that I'm looking out someone else's eyes. That someone is staring into a roaring fire built in the hearth in the living room of the boarding house. Suddenly, surprise echoes through me but it's not _coming_ from me. Following the surprise is wonder.

'_How?'_

That thought isn't mine! But I recognize the voice behind the thought: Damon! I gasp and snap my eyes open. I'm back in the bathroom that's en-suite to the room I took over in the boarding house. "What the _hell_ was that?" I whisper in awe. Did I _really_ just send my spirit _into_ Damon's body?

In the next instant, there's a knock at the door to the bathroom. And by 'knock' I mean someone is _banging_ on the door. "Elena, you had better tell me I was imagining things just now!" Damon's voice comes through the door.

"If you're talking about what I _think_ you're talking about, then I don't think you were," I call back, clambering out of the tub. "Hold on, let me get dressed!"

"Too late, I'm coming in," he says.

I manage to grab a towel and wrap it around myself just before Damon picks the lock of the door and pushes it open. "Damon!" I yelp.

"If you just did what I _think_ you just did, you just got a lot more personal with me than just seeing me naked," he says, raising an eyebrow. "Now, did you _really_ just send your spirit _into_ my body?"

"Apparently so," I say weakly. "I don't even know _how_ I did it!"

"What were you doing that led to it happening?" he demands.

"Well, I had put myself into a trance-state to try and figure out this bond we have. I threw my spirit into it a lot like I threw my spirit into your emotional current the other night to figure out your emotions. Next thing I knew I was caught up even more intensely in the current in it than I was in your emotional current. Immediately after that, I was looking out _your_ eyes!" I say, shaking my head in wonder. _"I heard your thoughts!_ That surprised me enough to open my eyes and break the trance. And I was back in my own body."

Damon runs a hand through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. "This is insane," he says.

"You're telling me!" I snap. "Do you know how _freaky_ it is to suddenly find yourself in someone else's body and hearing their thoughts?"

"Do you know how _freaky_ it is to suddenly have someone else in your head?" he retorts.

"Point taken," I concede. "Do you think maybe it has something to do with our jewelry?"

"The witch never mentioned putting that sort of enchantment on it," he says.

"Did she mention being able to send mental images to each other? Because we can do that," I point out.

"True," he concedes. "And no, she didn't."

"Or maybe it's an older enchantment that she didn't know about. You said that it had been enchanted against damage centuries before it was handed on to you. Perhaps other enchantments had been placed on it in those centuries that had been lost with time," I say.

"We'd need a witch to check it out. And our resident witch happens to have this massive grudge against me," he points out.

"We'll just have to find another witch," I tell him. Then I sigh. "But we can't do that with your brother locked up in the basement. I doubt he'd play nice just to let us go off on an adventure to find out more about this jewelry. If anything, this has given him even _more_ reason to play hardball."

"Last night I told him I'd give him a day to start playing nice on his own before I started with the drastic measures," he tells me. "Considering how long he's gone without blood, I think we can start on the drastic measures a little early. We don't want him to start desiccating."

I purse my lips as I think. "Let me talk to him," I say finally.

"Elena, I don't think that's a wise idea," Damon protests. "He hasn't had any sort of blood in nearly two and a half days. His sanity is only going to be holding on by a thread at this point. The least little thing could cause him to try to feed on you. And when Stefan feeds on a human, the results aren't very pretty."

"You can stay and watch. I just want to talk to him," I tell him. "You'll be right there should he try anything. You're fresh and you've been feeding regularly. He's running on fumes and on the verge of desiccating. Not to mention he's still loaded with vervaine because he hasn't had any blood to get it out of his system. You can take him. Or at least hold him back long enough for me to get out of the cell. If all else fails, snap his neck to take him out of commission for a while."

He searches my eyes and I let him feel just how determined I am to go through with this. He sighs. "Fine. But you're not going in the cell. It's too damn dangerous," he says. "You're staying outside the door."

I sigh. "I had been meaning to slap him," I tell him. "I deserve at least that much for all the hell he's put me through."

"You can slap him when he's back on the animal diet and no longer on the verge of desiccating," Damon says firmly. He sends me the emotional equivalent of putting his foot down on this.

I think it over and decide that's the best I'm going to get from him. "Fine," I say. "Let's go."

He leaves the room so I can get dressed. Then we head downstairs. I have this feeling that I may very well be the only one who can get Stefan to grow up and act his age instead of acting like a two-year-old throwing a temper-tantrum.

* * *

Sarah: and there are some mighty big plot twists for you guys. Elena's confrontation with Stefan will be next chapter. Yes, I _know_ the chapters in this story are rather short compared to my usual, but I don't like combining the plots of different chapters just to make a chapter of decent length. Please review and tell me what you think!


	5. Confrontation and Breakfast

Moonlit Seduction  
DG32173

Sarah: here's chapter 5. I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_YAZMIN V:_ agreed. Not very many people would tolerate being used as a teddy bear. And I also agree that the part where Elena sent her spirit into Damon's body was amazing. I hope you continue to enjoy what I write.

Xhina: I'd love to keep this story going and never stop, but I don't know if I have hundreds of chapters in me for just one story. And I always wished Elena would stop waiting around for someone to help her. She's a tough girl. She should be able to help herself once in a while.

_delena and nian:_ I know Damon was acting a little OOC. But I did warn everyone that this is an alternate universe. Besides, he's still at the point where being used as a teddy bear is _highly_ insulting in his opinion. He was showing Elena that he is by no means a teddy bear and that he would _not_ allow _anyone_ to get by with thinking of him as one, not even her. I hope you continue enjoying this story! Here's the chapter.

_jairem:_ to be perfectly honest, I haven't yet decided if the evolution of what they can do with each other has something to do with the jewelry, if it is something much more powerful than that, or a combination of both. And I'm sure every Delena-shipper wishes that something like this had happened in the show. She was _way_ too forgiving of Stefan for far too long. I know I feel that way.

_Destiny4eva:_ here's the next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 5  
Confrontation and Breakfast

I sigh as I look at Stefan through the barred window of the iron door sealing him in the vampire holding cell. "You know, looking at you right now, I don't see an one-hundred-sixty-two-year-old vampire. I don't even see a seventeen-year-old," I tell him. "You want to know what I see?" I ask. He stays silent. "I'll tell you anyways: I see a two-year-old having a temper-tantrum because he's not getting his way. That's _very_ unbecoming in someone as old as you are. So I found out your deep, dark secret. That's not the big deal you're making it out to be. What _is_ a big deal is the fact that you lied to me so many times since the first day of school that I don't know _what_ to believe anymore when it comes to you. The few times I _did_ manage to get the truth from you, I had to verbally tear into you to get to it. You're a compulsive liar, Stefan. Right now, I _really_ want to open this door, come over there, and _slap_ some sense into you. But Damon won't let me because you are refusing to drink the blood he demeaned himself to get for you. You're loaded with vervaine, you're on the verge of desiccating, and that makes you a danger to me or anyone else who might come in there. You need to grow up to at _least_ the seventeen-year-old you got immortalized as."

He stays silent. From the extreme amusement echoing at me through our jewelry, Damon's trying _very_ hard to hold in his laughter. So far, he's succeeding. But I don't know how much longer that will last. I shoot him a warning glare before turning back to look through bars. "You know, Stefan," I say, crossing my arms. "Life is not fair. I learned that at sixteen. My brother learned that at fourteen. We lost our parents much too soon. From the story I've gotten from the two of you, _you_ never had your mother to turn to because she died giving birth to you. Your birth took her from Damon. But he didn't let that stop him from eventually developing a close bond with you. From what I gather, you two had been the closest of friends up until Katherine sauntered into your lives and turned you two against each other. Even after she was 'taken' from you, you two spent decades prolonging your feud. Then you two found me. I _don't_ appreciate being used as a reason to bring that feud to a whole new level. I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: _I'm not Katherine._ I _don't_ take twisted pleasure in playing games with the people in my life. And now that I'm finally bringing Damon the man out of Damon the monster, _you_ can't let a damn thing he's done go. The past is the past, Stefan. You need to stop wallowing in it. People change. Even vampires change when given a good enough reason to. My bet is that _your_ past is _just_ as full of potholes as his. And yet you try to play the role of 'White Knight'. But, sadly, you're playing the role all wrong. You lie too damn much to be a 'White Knight'. You're dishonest. You hide things from the important people in your life that they have every right to know. When I was getting you to tell me about how I could possibly be related to Katherine, I felt like I was pulling your nails out to get to the truth. I had _every_ right to know that I was adopted. You had _no_ right to try to keep that from me."

I sigh as he continues to pretend to ignore me. "Stefan, _I_ think that the only reason you have no control of your inner vampire is because you can't even be honest with yourself and _accept_ what you became the night your father killed you and Damon. You try to hide from the truth of your life and pretend that the bad things you've done never happened. Then, when those bad things happen again, you sulk and brood. You don't _learn_ from your mistakes, Stefan. That's why they keep happening again and again. My Mom's second favorite quote was 'Those who don't learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them'. And her _most_ favorite quote, the one she and Dad raised Jer and I on, was 'Trust for Trust'. Her second favorite quote is self-explanatory. Her _most_ favorite quote means that you can only give your trust to someone if you receive it in return. It also means that any relationship can only be a positive one if trust is given and received by both parties. Jeremy threw that quote in my face when I found out he read my journal. He reminded me that 'Trust for Trust' works both ways. I couldn't trust him with the truth of the supernatural and he couldn't trust me to tell him the truth. _You_ can't bring yourself to trust anyone around you. You couldn't even trust _me._ And I can no longer find it in myself to trust a word you say. You are a damn good liar and I've believed you too many times only to find out that I believed a lie. You lie to everyone around you. And, what's worse, you even lie to yourself. You are like a wolf disguising itself as a sheep with your lies. You put on a show of being perfect and good. But, really, all you're doing is hiding what you really are behind an act. And you've been playing the role so long that even you believe you are a sheep. You need to wake up to reality and learn to control the wolf before it breaks free and destroys everything you hold dear. If there's anything I've learned from interacting with the two of you, it's that your inner vampires need to be controlled or _they_ will control _you._ You can't hide it away and pretend it doesn't exist. That's just letting it grow feral and making it all the harder to control when it _does_ break free. Damon has proven that he has firm control over his inner vampire because he never tried to pretend it wasn't a part of him. But you've spent decades trying to pretend that it wasn't real. My guess is that it's not only completely feral now, but also driven completely rabid by your diet of animal blood. You proved Saturday that you can't control yourself when you have been given a taste of human blood. You were supposed to be my escort. But you went off to feed on Amber and Damon stepped in so that I wouldn't be completely humiliated in front of the town because my 'perfect boyfriend' didn't show and I was left stranded. As I told Damon, watching you throw him into a tree when he was trying to pry you off Amber ripped the rose-tinted glasses right off and I saw the true heart of the matter. You're both really lucky you didn't have any control or you could easily have speared him on a tree branch. I'll admit, I felt pretty damn terrified by watching that because I couldn't help but picture what you could have done to _me_ in that moment. You reminded me of a rabid predator. And that's what your inner vampire is: a rabid, highly-intelligent, completely feral predator. And it's because you don't accept that you are a vampire and have been for a hundred-and-forty-five years. You seem to think that if you deny that part of you hard enough, it will just go away. I'm sorry, Stefan, but it won't. You need to grow up, accept that you _are_ a vampire, and learn to control that side of you. Otherwise, you're going to end up destroying everything that ever mattered to you. You'll go mad from it and eventually be killed. I agree with Damon's plan of getting you on the animal blood temporarily, just long enough so you can help him and Rick take down the tomb vampires. But even I know that he needs to teach you how to control your inner vampire so that you can live on human blood and not go crazy from it. I don't care if he has to get downright cruel to succeed. I _know_ you don't like the creature you become when you're on human blood, but _I_ know that you only become that monster because your inner vampire is rabid and feral and you don't know how to control it. That's going to have to change, and soon. Now either start drinking the animal blood on your own with the knowledge that we _will_ find a way to teach you control over your inner vampire even on human blood or we're going to have to go to extreme measures to get the animal blood in your system. You only have until sunset to make your choice. Are you going to grow up and act your age? Or are we going to have to treat you like the two-year-old you're acting like? Because, either way, you're going to comply with this plan. I just hope we don't have to deal with a two-year-old when sunset comes."

With that, I turn on my heel and make my way back upstairs. I head into the kitchen to make Damon and I breakfast. I decide on scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and chocolate-chip pancakes. I'm mixing the pancake batter – made from scratch because Damon doesn't believe in the concept of pre-made mixes and sauces – when the blue-eyed Salvatore finally makes his appearance in the kitchen.

"Need any help?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to hold a grudge over this morning," I remark dryly. "I was more than half-asleep, Damon. I don't really have much control over my thoughts at that point. You should know that after being on the receiving end of worse mental images than you turning into a teddy bear for the past two days."

"Be that as it may, I _still_ don't appreciate you comparing me to a giant teddy bear," he growls, but even without the empathy link, I can tell his heart isn't in it.

Even so, I roll my eyes. "If you really want to help, you can take of the eggs, bacon, and sausage," I tell him, deciding a subject change is in order. I know damn well he is not going to apologize for the rough treatment he gave me. The mere notion of Damon apologizing is a complete oxymoron. Sure, he's changed since he first arrived. But I doubt he'd apologize for anything he does unless he ends up in a deathbed scene with _him_ in the deathbed. And considering the fact that he's a vampire, that's as much of an oxymoron as him actually apologizing. When vampires die, their deaths are too damn fast for any consideration of a deathbed scene. As far as I know, only fire or a stake to the heart can kill them.

"What's got that sneaky little grin on your lips?" Damon asks, breaking through my thoughts.

I just shake my head. "Not something you want to know," I tell him, stirring the batter one last time to make sure everything has been mixed in. "And I'm not going to tell you because I _don't_ want you running roughshod over me again like you did over the stray thought of using you as a teddy bear. Personally, _I_ would have taken it as a compliment if I was this big bad vampire and someone trusted me enough to consider using me as a big undead teddy bear, _especially_ if I haven't had anyone trust me in decades."

"Elena, I'm _not_ a teddy bear and I _don't_ take even stray thoughts of being used as one as _any_ form of compliment," he retorts, giving me a dark look.

"Yeah, yeah. You're this big badass vampire who can't tolerate the merest thought of someone who's relaxed enough in your company to snuggle against you like you were their own teddy bear," I quip, rolling my eyes. "Now, if you're done with the stove, I need to get over there to get this batter turned into pancakes."

He moves out of my way but I make sure to smack him on his designer shirt-sleeve with the spatula I was using to mix the batter. He stares in horror at the smear of batter on his ridiculously expensive shirt. "What the hell was _that_ for?" he demands in outrage.

"_That_ was for stealing a kiss," I tell him, turning my back to him so I can turn the burner to the proper temperature and pick out a frying pan to cook the pancakes in.

"Do you know how much this shirt _costs?"_ he demands. I hear him slip the shirt over his head, leaving him dressed only in his just-as-expensive jeans.

"Don't know, don't care, you paid too much for it anyways," I reply. I hear the sound of running water and I glance over my shoulder to see his ridiculously hot back to me as he tries to carefully wash the batter out before it stains. I shake my head at him and turn back to fixing the pancakes. "Now _you're_ acting like a big baby. You're so ridiculously rich that you can probably replace that shirt a thousand times over and _still_ be ridiculously rich."

"Elena, this is a _John Varvatos_ shirt!" he exclaims indignantly. "Do you _realize_ how hard it is to find his line anywhere _near_ this backwoods town?"

"Damon, it's a shirt," I point out, flipping the first two pancakes. "It's ridiculously expensive and made by some big-name designer, but it's _still_ a shirt. Besides, it's black. No one will see it even if it _does_ stain. Well, no _human_ that is."

"You just say that because you wear bargain brand stuff you probably found on a Wal-Mart rack!" he protests.

I sigh. "You're getting all emotional over a _shirt_ when you eat off plates with priceless works of art? That makes no sense," I tell him.

"I'm _not_ getting emotional," he snaps.

"Could've fooled me," I retort, a smug grin on my lips as I transfer the first two pancakes to one of the two plates that already have scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage waiting on them. "Come get your plate," I tell him. I pour out batter for the next two pancakes into the frying pan. He comes and gets right up in my personal space, getting so close I can feel his rippling abs pressing against my back through my shirt. "Damon," I say warningly.

"Just getting my plate," he replies, reaching his arm around me to grab the plate with the pancakes.

I sigh when it becomes apparent that he's taking his own sweet time with this. I smack him on the arm with the spatula. He yelps as the hot metal leaves its imprint on his arm, nearly dropping his plate in the process. "Back up," I tell him. "Or I'll hit you with it again."

He realizes that I mean it and quickly backs off. "Ow, _damn,"_ he hisses in pain. "What part of 'enhanced senses' _don't_ you understand?"

"Be glad you're a vampire and will heal from it in a few seconds," I reply, flipping my pancakes. While the other side is cooking, I pick up my fork and eat my eggs before they get cold. By the time I'm done with my eggs, my pancakes are ready to put on my plate. I transfer them over and turn off the burner. I hadn't made up all that much batter and I used what I did make up in the four pancakes.

I carry my plate over to the island counter Damon's seated at and take the stool across from him. I reach for the strawberry syrup Damon had made himself, but he pulls it out of my reach. "You got pancake batter on my John Varvatos shirt, you slapped me with a hot metal spatula, _and_ you thought of me as a teddy bear," he says. "Who says you deserve my syrup?"

I raise an eyebrow at him. "You stole a kiss from me and ran roughshod over me in the process. I slapped you with the rubber spatula to get even. Then you got right up on top of me while I was cooking when you _know_ I don't like people standing that close to my back because it creeps me out. I hit you with the metal spatula to get you to back off. And the thought about you being a teddy bear was because I was more than half asleep and I was actually pretty damn comfortable snuggled up against you. Now, if you don't share the syrup with me, do you honestly think I'm going to let you get by with it?" I tell him reasonably. "Because I can get pretty damn creative when getting revenge. I haven't even begun to tap into my imagination yet. If you don't believe me, ask Jeremy. He knows better than anyone how creatively nasty I can be when I'm vengeful. And I prefer to get my vengeance just when that person starts to drop their guard. Unlike certain blue-eyed vampires I can name, _I_ know how to be patient." He pretends to contemplate it but I can tell that my attempt at warning him to share the syrup has made him vastly curious of what revenge I would come up with. He smirks and stands up with the syrup. He then walks over to the counters and puts it on the very top of the cabinets, _way_ out of my reach. He then returns to his seat and arches an eyebrow at me. "Don't say I didn't warn you," I tell him mildly. I pick up my fork and proceed to eat the rest of my food. "Oh, don't forget, you have a council meeting this afternoon starting at one," I remind him cheekily when I'm done. "They'll want word on progress in your hunt for the vampire that attacked Amber. I'm sure they'll want to know all the little details. You'll probably be trapped in there for several hours. Me? I have nothing to do until Rick shows up with my schoolwork. I think I'll run a few errands this morning. If I'm going to be spending an indefinite amount of time here, then I'm going to need to add some personal touches to my room here."

He eyes me suspiciously as I put my plate and silverware in the sink. "Elena," he starts.

I shake my head at him. "You decided to declare war, Damon," I remind him. "You _could_ have called it even and let me have syrup with my pancakes. But you let your curiosity about my methods of revenge get the better of you. So you declared war by putting the syrup out of my reach. So, let the games begin. You can start begging for mercy _after_ the first round. But not before then."

With that, I walk out of the kitchen, allowing him to feel just how smug I feel about proving to him how downright nasty I can get. I get a sense of his growing concern over how mildly I'm taking his declaration of war. I can't help but chuckle at how delightfully fun it will be getting even with him. I run upstairs to put on a pair of shoes and my jacket. I grab my keys and my purse and make my way back downstairs and out the front door, completely ignoring Damon's attempt to flag me down. I climb in my car and buckle-up before starting the engine and turning around in the yard so I can head down the drive. 'This is going to be fun,' I think as I head into town. 'Damon won't know what hit him.'


End file.
